


Mainite Wilderness

by orphan_account



Category: Mianite - Fandom
Genre: A dead caribou, Gen, Mianite Wilderness, Some Cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 12:03:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11313000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After defeating Dianite, the four heroes are sent through the void of Aethoria by Ianite. After falling they find themselves in a world covered in nothing but snow. At first they think they're back home until someone says otherwise.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place right after season one as if season two never existed. Which means the heroes have never heard of Ruxomar or the existence of other realms.

#### Syndicate

I woke with a jolt, and was greeted with a sky full of white clouds and cold flakes dropping on my face. I realized that not only was it snowing but I was extremely cold. _Did it snow on us after we fell?_

I sat up, slowly, trying to ignore the numbness in my body and just… go. Layer after layer of snow on me fell off and allowed me to move again. Seeing so much snow on me kind of scared me a bit. _Would I be able to find the others?_

"Tom!" I heard Sparklez shout from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see the rest of the group; Sparklez, Tucker, and Sonja. Sparklez came to me (granted with great difficulty) and grabbed my arm and helped me stand. 

"It looks like it snowed a bunch," Tucker said, staring at the sky, "we're lucky we found you." 

"Yeah, you would've froze to death if you didn’t get up when you did," Sparklez mumbled. 

"Well thank you guys," I nodded to them and I looked around as well. The whole place is covered in snow that’s around my knees in height and I wouldn't doubt it were deeper anywhere else. It was just a flat white sheet, but in front of us is a huge forest, also covered in snow. I could tell most of the trees are pine trees as none of them froze to death and are fluffy. The ones that did die and wilt are thin and broken down from so much weight out on them. Off in the distance I could see a tall mountain peeking over the clouds. It was a lone mountain and looked nothing like the mountains at home. "Where are we?" I asked quietly. I only got a shrug from Sonja and a grunt from Tucker. Sparklez stayed silent as he was also looking around. 

"It might be a bit of a stretch-" he said, pointing at the forest- "but I think we should explore the forest and find a place to stay before we get snowed in again." 

We all agreed, and Sparklez and I led the other two into the forest. I would say me though because I was ahead of everyone and Sparklez was just behind me, he was probably contemplating where we were knowing he's probably the smartest of the three and always has something on his mind. He can solve things pretty quickly. 

  


We found a good spot in the forest. A birch tree was tipped over and leaning on a pin tree. So we decided to take shelter there. We set up camp under the fallen tree, digging out the snow underneath and grabbing big fern branches to protect us from anymore snow. We set up a fire (with great difficulty) and camped out for a while. Sooner or later some of us got hungry, so I decided to go out and see if I can find rabbits or berries or something. 

I shuffled around the forest, making sure I leave tracks deep enough so they don’t fill up with snow and I get lost. I got over my numbness after we hung out after the fire and I was hoping I'd stay generally warm for a while even without warm clothes. 

I doubt that’d be the case. 

As I shuffled around I started seeing something. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or hallucinating or something… but it actually got me a bit happy. I started seeing things like wires connected to trees and small wooden or bone spikes poking from the snow. This meant there's someone here. 

What was worrying was the blood coating all these traps. Whether or not they were for animals I knew that wherever we are we're right in someone or something's hunting grounds and they may not be too happy about that. 

Suddenly I heard someone shout my name. "Tom!" They screeched and it almost sounded like Sonja. "Come back! You won't believe this!" 

So I did what I was told and started to run-shuffle my way back to camp, of course following my trail. When I arrived the group had the most excited faces, yet their eyes held some sort of fear? I knew fear when I saw it and that’s what I see. When I saw him was when I knew why they held fear in their eyes. 

It was Dianite, yet shorter and stalkier… mainly he looked more masculine, giving him that short yet huge look. He was crouched down by a corpse of a big deer-like animal, a big one. Possibly an elk or caribou? When he looked at me I saw he had some sort of animalistic shine to his eyes which were… actually beautiful-- they're opalescent, shining different colors in vibrant flecks. His hair is dark burgundy and slicked back, but it seemed to stand up a bit in hostility while his tail twitched around in irritation. He wore animal skin, obviously different skins stitched to different skins to create some kind of protection against the snow. There were black strings wrapped around various parts of his body like his arms, legs, waist, and chest. All strings tied around teeth and broken bones of animals, possibly those he's hunted. Some strings (the ones around his waist) tied around glass bottles and vials filled in some powdery or liquid substances of different colors. There was a pale beige looking powder in one and knew immediately it was some crushed bones made into bonemeal. In his left hand held a big and long blade, also of bone. Whatever animal that blade was made of I wouldn’t want to know. He stood slowly from his crouched position as he continued to stare at me in some wary gaze. I could tell he too is observing me. The way he stood I knew he was watching if I'd attack him. He stood on his toes, his feet dragon-like in nature but also big enough to keep him on the surface of the snow without sinking through… sort of like a lynx or polar bear. 

"Hello," I said quietly, hopefully not startling him and he continued to look at me. I cleared my throat and his ears perked up. 

"Now that everyone is here--" his voice is deep, like rolling thunder, but he spoke quietly, "-- I want to know who you are and why you want me to… help you." I could tell he's sort of animalistic with that voice of his. He spoke slightly choppy but he's still understandable. What scared me was he still was staring at me. 

"Well…" Tucker started slowly, a bit nervous, "I'm Tucker Jericho." 

"Captain Jordan Sparklez." 

"Sonja Firefoxx." 

"Tom Syndicate." 

We told him we didn’t know where we were and had recently woke up outside of the forest, and of course added that we almost froze to death before even waking up. Or at least I almost did. We said that we came from a place called Mianite and well… as I suspected that didn’t go too well. 

"Excuse me?" He made a noise that I recognized, a deep rumbling in his throat and chest that meant he was infuriated. His hair seemed to stand even more on its end and his scales on the back of his neck down to his shoulder blades I could see started to ruffle, making a low shuttering noise when they moved in any way. This was the defensive system of his species… whatever he is. The Dianite I knew, definitely different from this one, had the same thing with his own scales but it was all around his neck to make him look larger. Obviously this is some sort of different breed that their back-scales are large and plated and shutter when in distress to scare their prey by both intense noise, vibration, and overall size. This Dianite is big and scary enough, I'd probably cry if he were to be angry with me in such a manner. 

"W-what's wrong?" Sonja asked. 

"That bastard is throwing this whole world off balance," he growled dangerously, his brows furrowed, "it's been snowing like this for over three hundred years and it hasn’t stopped one bit. He also has a village atop the mountain over there--" he nodded off towards the tall mountain-- "s'full of sick people. He spread some sort of disease and well… it isn't going too well." 

"Mianite did this?" Tucker asked, his face contorted with some kind of disgust and unbelief. 

Dianite looked at him oddly. "Yes." He snorted and crouched back down by the caribou. "I smell you aren't from this world. You don’t smell like _them_ \--" he placed his hand on the corpse and took his bone knife and started cutting into it, it started to bleed where he cut and Sonja and Tucker gagged. "Then again I haven't smelled any kind of life since it started to freeze over." he continued to cut off parts of the caribou, of course first it's pelt and flesh. He set the layer of pelt and flesh down on the snow next to him after ripping the last remaining inches off the body. Blood started to coat the snow, giving it that pinkish-red coloring. 

"If it's been frozen for over a century than how are some of these trees still getting their nutrients?" Jordan asked while he stared at the skinless caribou with a glint of disgust in his eyes. 

"It's not. They're all completely frozen," Dianite said, standing up and walking over to one of the pine trees. He rested his hand on the trunk and spoke again, "it may sound stupid to you four, but the forest speaks its own. It always had something to say, you could just feel it. If you ever went into the forest and you felt watched, it's the spirits in these trees. Each tree has a story, each blade of grass has a past… but ever since Mianite came into rule they never spoke again. It used to feel full of life here, but now it's just… cold and dry." I frowned as he didn’t look away from the tree, his tail hanging low and his ears hung back. "It's been so long that I'm afraid this world will never be the way it used to." 

He turned around and looked at us, I could see determination and confidence thinking In his opalescent eyes. "If your were sent here from another world, then i imagine you were sent her for a reason. I think you're hear to save this world." 

"Why do you think that?" Jordan asked, he too had gone up to a tree and felt it. He held his hand, probably trying to warm it up, when he walked over to us. 

Dianite looked at him, "It's not everyday you see four strangers fall from the sky with a scent as strange as yours." 


	2. The Blizzard

#### Syndicate

We talked with Dianite more the rest of the day. The more we spoke to him the more we all started to realize that we were nowhere near home like he had theorized and that we wouldn’t be able to go back for a long time until we help fix whatever deep shit Mianite got this world into. Dianite had taught us a lot more things about the wilderness that I wouldn’t have ever known, even if we pretty much lived in a place like this; abandoned and lonely with nothing too advanced. 

The aura Dianite gave off the whole time was hostile in a way. A way that told everyone, even me, that we probably shouldn't tell him what to do or question him in any way. 

I followed him over to a couple trees to ask him a few more questions, hoping I'd get the answers I want but I didn’t even open my mouth before he told me to help him hang up the pelt on the trees. 

"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked with a raised brow. 

He gave me some sort of deadpanned look before ripping off a few sharp teeth from one of the threads on his arm and handed two to me and said, "You should be able to punch a hole in the trees so you could hang the pelt." 

I took my side of the pelt after nodding to him, not exactly being careful with getting the dripping blood on me. Being a Dianite follower, blood isn't a problem with us. I can steel myself even when someone's being brutally mauled by someone else's bare hands. 

I brought one of the teeth over to the trunk, relatively the same height that Dianite had on the other side. He is taller than me so I'm not able to get it exactly the same height but it's the thought that counts. I pushed the tooth through the ice as far as I could, them pulled It out and did the same with the pelt and stuck It back in the tree. I did the exact same thing with the bottom half. 

I watched Dianite while he took the blunt end of his knife and started to scrape off any remaining flesh on the pelt while it was being held in place on the tree trunks. "So…" I started, "what's up with this Mianite deal? How is he spreading some… disease?" 

"I don’t know how he got it but there's a plague-like virus that’s been going around in the mountains and he's been keeping victims of the virus alive. They can't die by unnatural causes, if they do die of an unnatural cause he'll just bring them back and make them suffer till they pass from age." 

"Oh," was all I could say to that. I didn't know what to think about this Mianite, torturing people like this. A part of me found it interesting, I want to explore this village in the mountain but the other part of me told me I should probably stick down here where it's safe. 

Dianite wiped off his blade and sheathed it at his waist. "I have a feeling he's doing this because he's trying to create some natural super virus. Like he's breeding it," he said without looking up, he just stared blankly at the pelt. 

"Ew," I shook. 

"This should be able to dry here, hopefully," he said, "mind helping me with the rest? You seem to have the stomach for this stuff." 

"Sure," I shrugged before we walked back to the campsite. We had hung the pelt a few meters off but I knew Dianite knows where it is. "What're we doing?" I asked. As we sat by the caribou on the snow, the white snow around it now almost a dark red as it continued to soak up the blood. 

He grabbed a small pouch that was hung around the right side of his waist and pulled out a few plastic bags. "Don’t ask, just when I give you chunks I want you to put it in there." 

"Chunks?" I raised a brow while I opened the bag. It was a pretty big bag and I was actually wondering where he had gotten these bags. I realized what he meant he started to cut up the animal. 

"Now I'll tell you this," he said as he handed me a big chunk he cut off, "you have to use every bit of an animal when you kill it-- its fur, ears, bones, eyes-- whatever you find on and In the animal you have to save it and use it. That is the respect you must pay for the animal as a thank you for giving you food and materials." I started to realize he was starting to sound like some extreme nature freak, if talking about trees having things to say didn’t make me realize that before. He kind of gave me a look from the corner of his eye, then turned back to cutting up the meat. I kind of forgot he was a god and I'm his follower, so he could read my mind. I think. 

  


We got over half the meat all bagged up, the parts we didn’t bag up ended up in a pot over the fire that everyone else set up when they had gotten back. Dianite had cut up a lot of pieces of the animal I didn’t recognize, but I had a feeling he knew some of us were going to gag when he told us what they were so he kept quiet. 

"I will be back," he said, standing up when the meat soup was finished being set up. "I want you all to keep the fire going and stir this every once in a while to even out the heat. I have to go at the edge of the forest to check the weather--" he sniffed-- "I have a feeling we might be getting a storm…" he trailed off, then looked back at us. "Thankfully you all set up under that tree, so is the food. If I'm correct and the storm rolls in I want Syndicate to go back to the pelt and bring It back over here and use It as a tarp over the tree and everyone to get under it. I'll be able to find you." 

We all nodded and he turned around and walked off into the rest of the woods, disappearing behind the trees and fog created by the snow falling from the frozen branches above us. The four of us stayed by the fire, every once in a while I would peek over the edge of our little pit we were in and see if the snow was coming down harder. Suddenly I jumped when loud a loud boom sounded above us. 

"What was that?" Jordan asked, he seemed pretty spooked as well. 

I cursed under my breath and stood. "I'll be back, looks like Dianite was right." 

"Of course he would be, he's a god," Tucker snorted, holding Sonja. 

I clambered out of the pit and shuffled my way over to the pelt a few meters off as fast as I could. The snow started coming down hard and the wind blowing through the trees blew off the snow packed on their branches, some falling off in chunks and others blowing around like a snowstorm. I thankfully found the pelt and took out the teeth holding it in then wrapped it around me like a coat, covering my head down to my knees. This shielded me from the snow as I made my way back. 

The thundering continued to get worse and the wind blowing more. I hoped that the others were okay and that Dianite would be here soon. Or hopefully i could get there before I start experiencing symptoms of hypothermia or something. I began to shiver and shake while I shuffled back and started to doubt whether or not I'd make it. 

Thankfully i did make it back. I smiled and laughed and shuffled quicker, the pelt whipping everywhere when I took it off and started pinning it against the trees to cover out camp like a tarp. I did it quick and hopefully I didn’t screw up or it would go flying off from how hard the wind was hitting it. I slid into the pit from under the tarp and where the fir branches weren't blocking my way and fell Into the pit, scaring the living day lights out of Jordan. He nearly jumped out of the pit himself when I slid in and Sonja squeaked. 

Or maybe that was Jordan who squeaked? 

"We were worried about you, Tom," Sonja said with relief. 

"Yeah," I said, hugging myself from how cold it was, "I was, too." 

Suddenly something hit me on the back, nothing too heavy it was just surprising. I looked over my shoulder to see Jordan had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around me. "Hope this helps." 

"How is it so warm?" I whispered as I grabbed it and pulled it closer to me. 

"I put chips of a type of rock that warms itself when it's cold out in there that Dianite from home gave me in hopes I'd follow him," he answered like it was common day knowledge, like we all should've known. 

"You’ve been warm this whole time!" Tucker shouted and Jordan just shrugged awkwardly and lowered his head in shame. 

"Thank you, Jordan," I said and he smiled at me. 

"The stew should be ready by now, it should warm everyone up more if we eat it while it's hot," he said and we all grabbed our serving. When I ate I immediately noticed the taste of kidney, having resorted to eating a kidney from an animal back home before when we had a big snow storm and ran out of food. I guess this could be a similar situation. I felt much better with Sparklez's warm jacket and the hot soup, though the soup burned my tongue I didn’t mind at all as long as I was warm in some way. 

We were all silent as we consumed the soup, sometimes Tucker would gag at something but he manned up and continued to eat. I set my bowl down when the wind got heavier and the thunder rolled by above us again. The wind whistled loudly, the trees shuttering, and the pelt over us sounded like it was about to fly away. We all silently watched above us, the fire warming us and the snow around us keeping us all enclosed, the tree looming above giving us shelter. 

  


I honestly hoped Dianite would get back soon and I can just feel the other three praying the same. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being left by Dianite, the storm passes and the heroes find themselves on another trek.

#### Syndicate

Jordan peeked out of the pit from under the pelt when the storm let down a bit. Dianite hadn't come back yet since before the blizzard started. "Anything?" I asked when Jordan sat back down. 

"No," he said, "Its been a long while, too, so he might've dug himself a hole to stay in during the storm." 

"Or he abandoned us," Tucker said, his legs crossed and his back hunched a bit. We were all getting tired and who knows how long we've been up-- none of us could sleep because of the storm and I knew no one would sleep in case something happened. 

"He wouldn’t do that," Sonja said, "you know he said something about wanting to actually help us." 

"Help us if we agree to save this place." 

"Honestly I feel like we have no choice," I said, "I mean if we want to go back home." 

"That’s a good point," Jordan agreed, "I have a feeling Dianite knows more about this than we think he does, especially if he knows that we aren't from this world." 

We all talked to keep ourselves busy, but most of the conversation was about Dianite and whether or not he'd come back. Sooner or later I must've fallen asleep. I don’t even remember closing my eyes for a long time, I thought I blinked. Like I blinked and all of a sudden it's the next day. 

I had a feeling I fell asleep because I had jolted when a noise erupted from outside of the camp, like growling and hissing. A fight was going on outside between two animals. Two animals that don’t exactly sound friendly. I looked around and saw that everyone else was frozen in place, their faces plastered with fear while we fell silent and listened. 

The more I listener the more I realized that not only It was literally right outside our camp but both animals are big and cat-like. The hissing and growling sounding almost like some mountain lion. I wouldn't be surprised because we're pretty close to the mountain itself, but too far for a mountain lion to actually try and hunt us. Let alone two of them. One of them sounded much larger and deadlier than the other, it's growling and hissing almost like that of a much bigger lion but this one had a reptilian rumble to it almost like an alligator. 

I quickly scrambled over to look out from under the tarp when it clicked on what was going on. I looked past the rubbish and saw something terrifying. I was correct about the mountain lion but what was scary was when I saw Dianite. He was crouched down on all fours, almost imitating the mountain lion as it swiped at him. What scared me about him was that he had almost completely changed. He looked larger. A lot larger. His eyes completely white like Mianite's eyes back home and his bottom canines elongated and curled upwards like a bore's. His shoulders more broad and the hair on his head sticking up on end like long needles and the plates on his back sticking up and ruffling like I had thought they would before. When they ruffled they made an annoying shuttering noise. I also noticed that indeed they made him look larger. 

He stood up on his legs, seemingly tired of the mountain lion, breathed in and roared at it and shuttered his plates. The road is loud, ear piercing yet deep. The shuttering is also loud and annoying, this time in a more high pitch tone than before. My ears rang when he let up and I saw the big cat cower away. I noticed the way Dianite stood resembled that of a bear, he's slightly squatted and his arms hanging to his sides. 

"Dianite?" Tucker nearly shouted after peeking out from next to me. 

I knew it had to be Dianite because of his red scales, his one beige horn, his dark burgundy hair, and the animal skins covering his body. He twisted around and I could see all the muscle movement in his body. I tried not to imagine what he could do to someone with just a hand. He dropped to his fours and stalked over to us, not at all sinking for his weight. He sniffed the air in front of us and huffed out before speaking, "You didn’t eat all the food, did you?" 

I snorted and moved out of his way, Tucker had already sat back in his spot. And Jordan moved out of the way to make room for Dianite when he just slid in head first and took up most of the space between us. Tucker yelled when Dianite took the pot the stew was in and held it over him as he tipped his head and just drawn whatever was left. And there was still over half the pot left in there. We all just watched him as he drank the whole thing then set it down away from the fire. 

"Sorry," he grumbled tiredly, "hadn't ate in a few days." 

"How long ago did the storm start?" Jordan asked, his voice mimicking the look of disbelief on his face. 

"Two days ago," he said. He sounded like he was questioning himself but then he spoke again, "the storm's eye just passed over us, and if we leave now we can get to my camp. It's more safe there." 

"We're leaving this place, " Tucker asked, "why?" 

"Well for one it's my camp and all my shit is there," he shrugged, "and two it's more safe-- like I had said. It's closer to the mountain and for some reason a lot of the storms pass the mountain with no problem. Plus the shelter I made is under some boulders and an uprooted tree, so that makes it even more safe." 

"We should pack up now then if it's as safe as it sounds," Sonja said, "we might be able to get there before the storm comes back." 

"The eye is most likely going to pass by come tomorrow evening," Dianite said, "it certainly smells it." None of us questioned how he could smell the storm because we knew he was just going to give us a look and some sarcastic answer, so we all shut up and packed up the camp. I gave Sparklez's jacket back and Dianite let me use the pelt as another coat. He even promised me that he'd stitch me a nice, warm coat if he got the time. 

So we headed off. Awkwardly shuffling through the forest that had been pelted with tons of snow in (apparently) two days. We followed Dianite who stayed in his big… I guess monster form. He stayed on his fours and trudged along, stalking like a tiger or bear. Every once in a while we would stop to check and reset traps he must've set up before the storm. Some of his traps were buried in two feet of snow, some of those that were buried happen to have frozen rabbits. 

"So what will be doing after the storm?" Jordan asked when we started to walk again after Dianite reset the trap and put the rabbit in the bag around his waist. 

"If you would like," he said slowly, "you can cut open the tree bark in these pines and grab some fish bait for me. Because my camp is near a river and I'd like to grab more fish before they migrate again. Other than that, uh… I'm not sure." He looked over his shoulder and at Jordan, "maybe we can share about each other's worlds if you really are from another," he turned his head back to look ahead of him again, "I don’t really have much to share, though." 

"How come?" I asked, I walked next to him and he was still so much taller than us and he was on his fours and not sinking In the snow. I just barely came up to his shoulder in height. 

His ear twitched. "I have amnesia," he answered simply. "I don’t entirely remember my childhood. I don't even think I'm actually 518, I think I'm older than that. I don’t remember my family, my friends. Honestly--" he stopped walking-- "honestly the only person I actually know is Mianite." 

"Really?" Tucker asked, stopping next to me. 

"It might be because of my seething hatred for him." 

  


Dianite had walked over to one of the pines and showed Jordan what he had meant. He threw his fist at the frozen tree, breaking off the ice, then peeled off some of the tree bark and revealed… "worms?" 

"Yes," he said, "good fish bait." He grabbed one of the small jars hung around his waist and opened it. He continued to pick some of the worms out of the tree and dropped them inside where they wriggled and writhed with the others that were in there already. He then handed the jar to Jordan. "That is your job. Don’t lose the jar or I'll lose you." 

"Yessir," he bowed his head and we continued to walk. I had chuckled at Dianite's threat because honestly it seems like a light hearted threat but we all knew he would abandon us in this forest to die alone if we fuck something up. Maybe that wasn’t something to laugh at. 

We made it out of the forest, Jordan catching up to us quickly and handing the jar to Dianite who took it and thanked him, then he wrapped it in the string around his waist and stood straight. "We seemed to have went a bit off trail," he said while he looked around, "but in general we went the right way." 

"How can you tell," Tucker asked, "because everything looks the same." 

"For one," Dianite snorted, huffing through his nose a few times, "I can smell my camp over east. And two… I believe I mentioned that my camp is right at the bottom of the mountain--" he pointed at the mountain ahead-- "that mountain." 

"Oh," was all Tucker said before Dianite sulked ahead. His ears were raised in alert, worrying some of us. "What's, uh, what's up?" 

"Shut up," he snarled, "stay here, stay low I'll be right back." He then took of, definitely running like a bear through the snow. 

"And here we go again, abandoned in the middle of nowhere," Tucker sneered. "I bet the storm is going to come back before he does." 

"Don’t say that," Sonja said, "he's probably just checking the perimeter or something for that mountain lion from earlier." 

"Yeah, well…" Jordan said, looking at the sky, "i think we're losing daylight." 

"Yeah, we are," Tucker said. "I'm going ahead." 

"Whoa wait no," I stopped him before he could go anywhere, "we were told specifically to stay here and if Dianite figures out you left he'll literally hunt you down and tear you to shreds," I warned. 

"I'm sure I'd die of hypothermia before he has the guts to tear me apart." 

"Tucker, don’t go anywhere," Sonja said softly, "you don’t know what's out there. You can't go without Dianite or you'll die." 

"That’s why I'm going. I'm going up the mountain to see if he's telling the truth," he explained, "I'll come back if I find anything." He turned and ran before any of us could grab him. 

"Tucker!" Sonja shouted and tried to follow him, only fall over in the snow. Jordan and I ran over to her to help her up. "We have to go after him," she said. 

Jordan and I exchanged glances. "I'm sorry, Sonja, we can't risk having Dianite's fist half way up our asses," he said. I resisted a smile from his comment and nodded to show I agreed with him. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm ends soon, though now the food supplies will be low once again. it's time for another trek.

#### Syndicate

After Tucker had left, the rest of us stood around and waited for Dianite to return. We’re losing daylight quickly. Sonja, every once in a while, would try and take off after Tucker, who had gotten farther than we had thought he would, but we held her back. She knew we all wanted to chase after him, but the three of us knew better than to test Dianite’s patients and trust. 

Especially from our experience back home.

It actually wasn’t long until Dianite showed up again, saying how he found his camp and a bear was digging through his food supplies. He apologized for suddenly leaving but we knew he was just trying to protect us. It wasn’t too long before he realized Tucker had went missing. “You let him leave?”

“He wouldn’t have listened to us,” Jordan explained, “he said he didn’t trust your judgement and that you were probably lying, so he went to the mountain.”

Dianite hummed, his eyes half-lidded. “Fine. I’ll lead you to camp then I’ll go searching for him.”

“Really?” Sonja asked, excited to see Dianite wasn’t going to kill him immediately. 

“Yeah. Come on,” he nodded his head toward where he came from and stalked off. We followed him, trudging through the mushy snow. It stilled snowed, white flurries floating by. But it wasn’t too much. Not yet. vAgain it didn’t take long for us to get there, in fact probably only half the time it took for Dianite to run over here then run back. It was quite quaint. It was big enough for us all but we knew that he had no idea of others even existing past the mountain. It was essentially a big donut dug into the snow… about twelve feet deep. 

God. Twelve feet deep and There’s still snow underneath. I’m guessing it’s just so compact now it’s probably just ice. 

  
Dianite had us move inside, trying to find our places and told us not to go anywhere before he climbed up the snow wall and ran off. He seemed to be in a state of urgency, which I wouldn’t be surprised. The storm must be near, I can hear the wind picking up fast.  


Most of us fell asleep, huddling close for warmth. Though I couldn’t sleep, not now. And I knew Sonja was having a hard time as well. The wind had really picked up over night… I mean if it were night I would have no idea. I nearly screamed at the top of my lungs when I heard a loud noise, like a deep thump. The snow around the entrance where we all lay picked up in a cloud, blinding my vision temporarily while whatever fell entered in. I wasn’t so scared anymore when I saw Dianite, his body heat almost immediately warming up the place. 

He snorted and set down Tucker, who was passed out in his arms. “Is he okay?” Sonja asked, sitting up and waking Jordan. 

“He should be fine,” Dianite spoke. “He found an old camp of mine and hid out in there.”

“Why didn’t you let him stay?” Jordan asked, yawning. At least someone got their sleep. 

“It’s dangerous up there alone, especially with Poison Arrow,” Dianite explained. 

“Who?” I asked, repositioning to get comfortable where I sat. Dianite hummed lowly and laid down on his side, probably also getting comfortable for the wave of questions he might get. 

“Poison Arrow is Mianite’s dragon. She’s a black and green wyvern that protects the mountain from intruders. I have to admit she’s dangerous, I’ve come across her once and she nearly killed me…” Dianite trailed off, his eyes closed. I felt a pang of regret in my chest, I knew it was a bad memory for him. “Jericho’s lucky Poison Arrow hadn’t patrolled in that area yet. You’ll mostly find her in storms, though you’ll never get a warning like you do when there isn’t one.”

“How big is she? And what do you mean by warning?” Jordan asked. 

“I can’t say how big she is now. It’s been a while since I’ve tried to trek up the mountain.” Dianite huffed. “Storms appear a lot around here, it’s common nowadays. When there is a storm all creatures fall silent in hopes to hear Poison Arrow as she hunts, but the strong winds caused by her wings deafens them. When there is no storm all can here her above the clouds, the flapping of her wings and the wind picking up under them, the sound of her voice when she finds her target. We all can hear her, so it’s best we travel only when there is no storm. Only she can hear in the blizzards.”

“Oh…kay,” Jordan said, laying back down, “that’s all I needed to hear.”

“The storm will let up soon. Probably by nightfall. It’s best to get your sleep while you can.”

“Can we use you as a warm blanket?” I asked, rubbing my hands together to create some sort of friction. Jordan had his warm jacket so he was already set anyway, having probably fallen asleep by now. 

Dianite shrugged and laid his head down, Sonja and I took that as an okay and snuggled close to him. He hummed and wrapped one of his arms and his tail around us. 

  


The next morning I woke up to Dianite running a round the camp of his. It was odd to see him back to normal, no longer a big and burly beast. He huffed through his nose when he caught my eyes. “Syndi, come and help me pack up.”

I nodded and helped him for the next few minutes, packing up several bags with meat and bait and cloth and whatnot. “We’ll be going over by the river today,” he said, “grabbing some fish before we head up the mountain.”

“Sounds fun,” I snorted. “Will there be any?” 

“Hopefully. The story might’ve chased them off though.” 

After we finished packing we woke everyone up and Dianite explained the game plan. He said he had a trap set up in the water, so if the storm did chase off the fish then most of them would’ve been caught in the nets he set up. He said after we go get some fish then we would start heading up the mountain. And god knows how long that’ll take. 

Quickly, all of us followed Dianite, I believe still going east. “The river surrounds the mountain like it’s a moat, it always has and always will,” Dianite growled. We found the river, seeing why he was growling so much. “The storm must’ve broke the ice last night.”

The river was in a huge mess. The water rushing like there’s no tomorrow, if I stuck a hand in there I’d probably be swept away immediately and swallowed by the depths. Massive chunks of ice barreling down the waves.

“Hopefully the nets are still there,” Dianite growled lowly, setting down his stuff by a boulder. We all did the same while he told us to stay put just in case. 

He was nearly close to the water, trying to see through the surface until he jumped back and ran back towards us, shouting “hide!” We all hid behind the boulder, Dianite peering around it. His hair and scales stood on end while his ears folded back in agression. 

“What is it?” Tucker asked. None of us had addressed the fact that he left and nearly died. He knew he was in trouble anyway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been posting lately. Most of my work is on tumblr, so I'll post those here at some point as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I know I'm a bit late but I've been thinking about this for a really long time. This is also my first fic published here so I hope it's not too bad.
> 
> [ This is a drawing I did of Dianite for any reference y'all need](http://a65.tinypic.com/2zth7i8.jpg)


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